1。Once a fox invited a stork to dinner。 He put nothing on the table except some soup in a very shallow dish。
The fox could easily lap up the soup, but the stork could only wet the end of her long bill in it。
When she left the meal, she was still very hungry。 "I am sorry," said the fox, "the soup is not to your taste。"
"Please do not apologize," said the stork。
"I hope you will come to my house, and dine with me soon。"
A few days later the fox visited the stork。
He found that his food was put in a long bottle, and the mouth of the bottle was very narrow。 He could not insert his big mouth into it, so he ate nothing。
"I will not apologize," said the stork。 "One bad turn deserves another。"
一次，狐狸请鹳来吃饭。
他除了浅盘子中的一点汤以外，什么也没有准备。
狐狸可以轻而易举地喝到汤，但是鹳只够蘸湿他长长的嘴尖。吃完饭后，鹳仍旧很饥饿。"很抱歉！"狐狸说，"这汤不合你的口味"。
"别客气，"鹳说，"过几天请到我家来和我一起吃饭吧。
几天后，狐狸应邀而至，他发现食物都装在一个长长的瓶子里，而瓶口很细，他无法将他的大嘴伸进去，什么也吃不到。
"我不想道歉，这是你应得的回报。"鹳说。
2。
A woman was singing。 One of the guests turned to a man
by his side and criticized the singer。
"What a terrible voice!"he said。
"Do you know who she is?"
"yes。" was the answer,"she is my wife。"
"Oh,I beg your parden," the man said。
"Of course her voice
isn't bad, but the song is very bad。 I wondered who wrote that awful song?"
" I did," was the answer。
有一个妇女在唱歌。一个宾馆的客人对旁边的男人问道：“这是多么可怕的歌声啊，你知道她是谁？”
“是的”，男人回答到“他是我妻子”。
“OH，我的兄弟，其实她的声音并不难听，主要是这歌词写的不好，是谁写的这么可怕的歌词？”
3。
塞翁失马 焉知非福 (Blessing or Bane)
Once upon a time, there was a man named Saiweng。 He lived near China's northern borders。
His horse went into the land of northern people。 His neighbors all felt sorry for him。
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said Saiweng。
After a few months, his horse came back with another fine horse from the north。 Everyone congratulated him。
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a bad luck," said Saiweng。
Before long, his son became fond of riding。
One day he fell from a horse and broke his leg。 Again, his neighbors all felt sorry for him。
"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said Saiweng。
One year later, the northern people started a war along the border。 All the strong young men took up arms and fought against the invaders。
Most of them died。 But Saiweng's son did not join in the fighting because he was lame so both of them survived。
很久以前，有个人叫塞翁。
他住在北部边疆。塞翁养的马跑进了北边民族的地盘。他的邻居们都为他感到难过。
“也许这会是件好事呢！”塞翁说。
几个月后，塞翁的马自己跑回了家，还带了一匹好马回来。
人们都去向他道贺。
塞翁却说：“也许这不是什么好事呢！”
没多久，塞翁的儿子就喜欢上了骑马，一天他从马上掉了下来，摔断了腿。邻居们都替塞翁难过。
“也许这会是件好事呢！”塞翁却说。
一年后，北方的民族大举入侵，年青人都被征集参军去打仗。死了很多人。塞翁的儿子却因为摔断了腿不能去当兵，从而保住了性命。
“我写的”男人回答道。
标签： 短篇历史故事
